Shortage of computer scientists prompts action

Being a computer scientist is a great job. It pays well, has excellent job security and the number of jobs — as well as the wide variety of different jobs within the field — is growing by leaps and bounds.

I mean, there were more computer science engineers who worked on the movie “Avatar” than there were actors and actresses. If that isn’t a reason to become a computer scientist, what is?

So why aren’t more college students, particularly women and minorities, earning computer science degrees? Even as the overall number of newly minted engineers in the U.S. continues to grow at a double-digit pace, the number of computer science majors nationwide has remained flat for the past decade.

It is a question that keeps Google’s Steve Vinter up at night. Mr. Vinter, who works as a site director in Google’s Cambridge office, says that the crisis is being felt by every industry, not just his. There isn’t a single sector of the economy that doesn’t need computer science engineers, he said. And the shortage will likely get worse, if only because the field is expanding.

“The trend has not changed, even though there are great jobs to be had in computer science,” he said. “It’s not about money. We aren’t finding a way to excite kids about computer science.”

Mr. Vinter was one of four panelists to speak to local educators last week at Worcester Polytechnic Institute about linking science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs in their school districts with internship programs at local businesses.

Google, incidentally, does not offer internship programs to high school students, for legal reasons.

But Mr. Vinter has been attempting to fill that void by organizing a statewide society of computer science high school teachers. The society has been developing a computer science course for younger students — as young as eighth grade — in an attempt to spark their imaginations. Waiting until the junior year of high school, then having students enroll in the AP computer science course, is no way to inspire students to pursue computer science as a profession.

“You’ve got to start with the inspiration, then work on the training,” he said.

Educators from the Douglas, Leominster and Quaboag Regional school districts all had questions about how to connect their students with businesses. Some, like Leominster, already place high school students in internship programs, as well as offering robotics clubs and other activities organized around computers. Douglas has a robotics program for Grades 5 through 7, but doesn’t offer something similar for high school students. Quaboag recently received approval to buy more tablet computers, in addition to the 30 or so that are available for supervised use in a room at the high school.

As Mr. Vinter pointed out during the panel discussion, however, the varying programs reflect the trend in Massachusetts for cities and towns to each do their own thing. It’s something here, something there, and none of it is connected, and none of the districts knows with any depth what other districts are doing.

John Kennedy, research and development laboratory supervisor at Metso Automation in Shrewsbury, told the teachers that his company has had great success with a high school student internship program run through Worcester Technical High School.

The program was launched when senior managers realized a good number of key Metso employees are set to retire in the next five years.

“The usual thing to do would be to wait until someone retires, then you’ve got to hire someone, and take two months to train them,” Mr. Kennedy said. “That just isn’t going to work,” he said, noting that despite unemployment above 6 percent locally, he struggles to fill job openings.

So he decided to act proactively, setting up what he calls a “farm team” of potential replacements that he finds through Worcester Technical High School and Quinsigamond Community College.

“We’ve been able to grow as a result, when businesses all over the place are shrinking,” he said. The first intern who came to Metso, which manufactures automated valve packages, is now the supervisor of the company’s lab.

Another student, who came to the job with computer science experience, has been showing more experienced employees how to install computer software that runs some of the equipment.

“They get real hands-on experience, and once they’re through the program, we do everything we can to keep them,” he said. “They become some of our most valuable employees.”